BLM FY2017 Bureau-wide National Conservation Lands Scientific Studies Support Program | L17AS00001

Opportunity Information: Apply for L17AS00001

The BLM FY2017 Bureau-wide National Conservation Lands Scientific Studies Support Program (Funding Opportunity Number L17AS00001) is a discretionary Bureau of Land Management grant program run through the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is designed to fund scientific studies that strengthen how the BLM understands, manages, and communicates the values of the National Conservation Lands (NCL), a network of more than 30 million acres of public lands set aside for their exceptional conservation importance through acts of Congress or presidential proclamations. The central idea is that good, field-based science and monitoring should directly inform on-the-ground decisions, improve stewardship, and help the public better understand what these protected landscapes provide in terms of cultural, ecological, and scientific benefits.

The opportunity focuses on BLM-managed areas that receive special conservation management, including National Monuments and National Conservation Areas, Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, and National Scenic and Historic Trails. These places span a wide range of ecosystems and settings, from Alaska tundra to desert landscapes, river canyons, and coastal environments. The program emphasizes conserving, protecting, and restoring the defining values of these landscapes, while also evaluating whether management actions are working as intended. In practice, that means the funding supports projects that increase baseline knowledge of resources (what is present, where it is, and in what condition), as well as applied studies that test methods, measure outcomes, and improve future management.

A key feature of the program is its intent to bring in the external scientific community through partnerships, rather than keeping research entirely internal to the agency. Funding is offered through cooperative agreements, which typically implies substantial involvement by the federal agency during the project (for example, coordination with field offices, sharing data standards, helping align study design with management questions, and ensuring results are usable for management). The solicitation notes that FY2017 funding is available at a bureau-wide level to both develop new partnerships and support existing partners that already have established cooperative agreements, reinforcing that collaboration and continuity of research capacity are important goals.

The kinds of projects supported are broad but clearly rooted in practical management needs on NCL units. Examples from FY2016 illustrate the range: inventories and condition assessments (such as wetlands status and ecological condition along National Trails in Wyoming), technology and methods testing (such as remote sensing approaches to locate prairie dog towns tied to black-footed ferret conservation in New Mexico), and public-engagement approaches that still produce usable data (such as citizen science paleontology inventories in Montana wilderness study areas). Other examples show targeted species recovery and habitat work (ranid frog recovery in Arizona; understanding endangered Amargosa vole movements in California), cultural and paleontological resource work (fossil inventory and salvage in Utah), pollinator habitat inventories in coastal meadows (Washington), and post-wildfire restoration science (testing fungal inoculation effects on sagebrush seedling success in Idaho). Taken together, these examples show the program is interested in both foundational inventories and more experimental or hypothesis-driven studies, so long as they generate results that managers can apply.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was open to unrestricted eligible applicants (meaning it was broadly open to many entity types, subject to any extra eligibility clarifications in the full announcement). It falls under the Natural Resources activity category and lists multiple CFDA numbers (15.224, 15.225, 15.230, 15.231, 15.233, 15.237), reflecting that the work can touch several BLM assistance program areas. The posting was created on November 16, 2016, with an original closing date of January 27, 2017. Awards were relatively small and numerous: the award ceiling was $25,000, with about 20 awards expected, suggesting the program aimed to seed a portfolio of targeted studies across different landscapes rather than fund a small number of large research efforts.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as a science-to-management support program for BLM National Conservation Lands. It funds studies that improve understanding of resources and landscapes, evaluate management effectiveness, and translate findings into better stewardship, education, and outreach. The program also highlights public benefit as a core theme, meaning funded work is expected to produce outcomes that matter beyond academia, such as actionable management guidance, improved resource protection strategies, better inventories and datasets, and clearer communication of the benefits these conserved public lands provide.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BLM FY2017 Bureau-wide National Conservation Lands Scientific Studies Support Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.224, 15.225, 15.230, 15.231, 15.233, 15.237.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 16, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 27, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $25,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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